The new US National Cyber Strategy points to Russia, China, North Korea and Iran as the main international actors responsible for launching malicious cyber and information warfare campaigns against Western interests and democratic processes. Washington made clear its intention of scaling the response to the magnitude of the threat, while actively pursuing the goal of an open, secure and global Internet. The first Report of the ISPI Center on Cybersecurity focuses on the behaviour of these “usual suspects”, investigates the security risks implicit in the mounting international confrontation in cyberspace, and highlights the current irreconcilable political cleavage between these four countries and the West in their respective approaches “in and around” cyberspace.

The first Report of the ISPI Center on Cybersecurity focuses on the behaviour of these "usual suspects," investigates the security risks implicit in the mounting international confrontation in cyberspace, and highlights the current irreconcilable political cleavage between these four countries and the West.

The Russia Scare assesses the scope, character and extent of Russian interference in the affairs of liberal democratic states. This book examines the ‘Russia scare’ in a dynamic manner, stressing the interaction between threat perception, responses and subsequent policies. What forms did this threat take, what were the instruments used, how effective were the deployed tools and who were the allies with whom Russia worked in these endeavours? Above all, what impact did interference have on target societies? The book explores why Russia engaged in such activities, what the probable chain of command was (if any) and the role of the Russian leadership in all of this, as well as investigating the response of Western societies and governments. The author sifts the real from the imagined, which can only be achieved by establishing the larger historical context. He scrutinises the fundamental question: was Russia before the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 really engaged in a sustained ‘hybrid warfare’ campaign to sow discord and undermine Western democracies? If so, what were the strategic purposes underlying such an activity? Various hypotheses are analysed, notably that Russian post-Cold War activity is nothing exceptional in the context of great power confrontation; that all great powers are engaged in one way or another in such actions, and thus contextualisation is important; and that Russia’s subversive activity was often exaggerated, even misrepresented. Responses potentially amplified the elements of subversion represented by the original threat. Threats exist, but responses always need to be calibrated so as not to inflict self-harm on the integrity of liberal democracy itself. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and academics of international relations, comparative politics, security and defence studies, global governance and Russian politics, as well as politicians, political advisers, NGOs, diplomats and journalists.

"In 'Cyber Persistence Theory', Michael P. Fischerkeller, Emily O. Goldman, and Richard J. Harknett argue that this current theory only works well in the cyber strategic space of armed conflict but it is completely misaligned for conflict outside of war - where most state-sponsored adversarial cyber activity occurs. As they show, the reigning paradigm of deterrence theory cannot fully explain what is taking place with respect to cyber conflict. Therefore, the authors develop a novel approach to national cyber security strategy and policy that realigns theory and practice."--

This report published by ISPI and the Brookings Institution analyzes the challenges to international order posed by the ongoing race for technological superiority. From artificial intelligence and quantum computing to hypersonic weapons and new forms of cyber and electronic warfare, advances in technology have threatened to make the international security environment more unpredictable and volatile – yet the international community remains unprepared to assess and manage that risk. What is needed is a mature understanding of how technology has emerged as a key enabler of sovereignty in the XXI century, how the ongoing race for technological supremacy is disrupting the balance of power globally, and what the attendant strategic and security implications of those transformations will be. This report is an effort to that end.

This book deals with two areas: Global Commons and Security: inextricably melted together and more relevant than ever in a world which is ever globalized and... with an incognita looming on the horizon: the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic upon the International Relations and globalization. Global Commons have always been relevant. It was Mahan who argued that the first and most obvious light in which the sea presents itself from the political and social point of view, is that of a great highway; or better, perhaps, of a wide common... Nowadays, this view has been further developed and, in addition to the unique legal implications that the Global Commons introduce, they are viewed, more and more intently, as a common pool of resources. Or perhaps, not that common... Resources, the key word! Which has to be always supplemented by two key words: access and security. And still, another one: data, the cyberspace contribution to the equation.

The conclusion of the multilateral agreement about the Iranian nuclear issue in June 2015 was widely predicted to accelerate both the scope and size of commercial interactions between China and Iran. As a result, the two countries talked about the prospect of increasing their bilateral commerce from less than $50 billion to $600 billion within a short period of time. Later, Beijing and Tehran moved to sign a 25-year strategic agreement partly to achieve that critical objective. The American withdrawal from the nuclear deal under the Trump administration in May 2018, however, put a halt to the rosy trade prospect of $600 billion between China and Iran. The contentious 25-year pact laid in the limbo in the wake of the crippling regime of international sanctions in which Washington spearheaded against Iran upon quitting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Shirzad Azad argues how China’s overall commercial relationship with Iran has turned out to be unusually asymmetrical and lopsided over the past several years. In some areas, Sino–Iranian business partnership surprisingly dwindled to a trickle, while in several other fields the presence of Chinese brands and technological expertise in Iran unexpectedly reached an all-time high.